13 Pages
3172 Words

Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Email address

Password

Login with Facebook

War On Drugs Thru Drug Testing of College Athletes

" In addition, Maickel points out that legitimate drugs and some natural food components can cause positive test results. For example, Contac, Sudafed, certain diet pills, decongestants, and heart and asthma medications can register as amphetamines. Likewise, poppy seeds, which contain traces of morphine, and some herbal teas containing traces of cocaine can be mistaken for illegal drugs (Groves 155). The possibility of inaccurate test results put athletes in danger of being wrongly disqualified from competition. In addition, these test results, targets for media attention, can cause inaccurate and unfair stigmas if they are false. Consequently, athletes are against testing as long as the NCAA fails to insure accurate results.

Despite these complaints of inaccurate tests, there are tests available which can be used that would insure nearly infallible testing. For example, more thorough tests like the GCMS (Gaschromatography Mass Spectrometry) and the HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) can be used in place of the current cheaper and less reliable tests. Further, all positive results could be retested to protect innocent athletes from wrongful disqualification and stigmas. However, many universities reject testing for they fear that accurate test results are too expensive to obtain. On the contrary, the more these tests are used, the more they will be mass-produced, and the cheaper they will become to use. Dr. Ronald Dougherty of the Chemical Abuse Recovery Unit of Syracuse, New York is confident that if test-producing companies devoted increased time and research into perfecting the more accurate tests, they would soon be just as inexpensive as the current tests (Groves 155). As a result, athletes would no longer fear being victimized by inaccurate results without subjecting the schools to extreme expenses.

Further arguments are directed at the embarrassing nature of testing itself (Reporter's 3). Athletes re...